A challenging month

January 2018

A Challenging Month

When the fixtures are announced in June, the first things I look at is the Christmas fixtures, January/February fixtures and Saturday/Tuesday back to back games. this year has turned out more difficult than initially thought..

Christmas is always a busy time in football, and this year was no change. I think an extra fixture was squeezed in over the holidays too. Usually there is either a boxing day fixture or a new years day fixture scheduled to be played at home. This year we were drawn a home on the 26th and on the 30th. The fixture on the 2nd Jan was away, although training pitches still have to be turned around for all games, home or away. 

Having been reasonably fortunate with the weather at the end of 2017, the beginning of the year has proved to us once again the importance of the MacLeod pitch cover system. We have used it more times this month to keep the rain off before a fixture than for frost protection. 

We have had eight fixtures in 5 weeks since Christmas, which may not seem an awful lot to some, but for us it is twice as many as we would normally deal with in a month. In January 2017 we had just three home games.

It has worked out this way from the initial fixtures released at the beginning of the season because of a home FA Cup draw, U18 FA Youth Cup (2 rounds) and an U23 Premier Cup tie. sometimes that's is just the way it goes. other years it will work out in our favour.

The Stadium pitch held up well going into mid January, but the back to back games were starting to take its toll on it in the second half of the month. It only takes one wet game to really hit the grass coverage hard - ours arrived on the 27th.

We didn't receive a large volume of rain but it was the unfortunate timing of it. Just as the players came out to warm up, it started to come down and continued all game, ironically finishing has the final whistle blew.. Even with a small amount of rain on a soil based pitch with reduced grass coverage can create a loss of stability on the surface.

Now that January is out of the way, The sun is rising just high enough over the South Stand to give the north end of the pitch sunlight during the day reaching the half way line, for a few hours at least.

In eager anticipation of an early spring and perhaps some growth to cover the scars of the Winter, I have looked at the fixtures for March and a possible window for an over seed to see us to the end of the season in as good condition as we can.

During the Winter we have been seeding with Barenbrug SOS seed with pleasing germination results. Unfortunately, in many cases it has not been able to establish itself well enough before the next game and has suffered its inevitable fate.

 Although the knocking back/divotting can be tedious, it can bring everyone together as we are all in the same boat. The routine this month has been pitch repair - pitch cover - pitch prep - game. seeing the pitch through to the next game and doing all we can.

Aeration is key for us and picking the right moments for work on the pitch is vital. getting the pitch turned around in time before the next weather episode, rain or frost, so that we can cover in time. it is great if we can work under the cover when it is raining, a pleasure to hear the rain falling on top of the cover!

During a poor spell of weather, getting nutrition on to the pitch is all about planning and being available to apply it at the right time. There have been a lot of high winds this month and with no covered booms you need a bit of luck. We are using a base 6 month slow release feed plus a conventional granular application every three weeks, so the bio stimulant spray is a bonus in these circumstances.
Also, the weight of our sprayer has to be taken into account. 757 litres tank capacity and a dry weight of 900kg is a heavy weight to be putting on the pitch at this time of year. It is fantastic at the training ground and at the right time of year for the stadium but we are looking in to an alternative for this time of year.

As for the training ground, things are holding up well for the end of January. not all of the pitches are being used when the conditions aren't great. since we have had our 3G pitch built in 2016, it has taken a lot of pressure off the natural grass surfaces. avoiding play when the conditions aren't suitable is essential if you want to maintain the surface in excellent condition through to the spring.

Pitch 8 (U16 match pitch) end of Jan 18'

Maybe an early spring is on the cards? A natural recovery for the end of the season? which ever we are dealt, it wont be long before the shorts are on and we'll be into renovations and starting over once again.